Word Search

* / # — search for the word under the cursor without typing it.

Keys: *, #, g*, g#

Put the cursor on a word, press * to search forward for the next occurrence, # for the previous. g* and g# do the same but without word boundaries.

Cursor on a word, press *, jump to the next occurrence. Press #, jump to the previous. No typing the pattern, no closing Enter.

Next occurrence of word under cursor

Key	Note
`*`

Previous occurrence of word under cursor

Key	Note
`#`

Next, but no word boundaries

Key	Note
`g`
`*`

Previous, but no word boundaries

Key	Note
`g`
`#`

* — find next occurrence

# — find previous occurrence

Reference

Key	Pattern built	Direction
`*`	`\<word\>`	Forward
`#`	`\<word\>`	Backward
`g*`	`word`	Forward
`g#`	`word`	Backward

Worked example — * on a word

Search for the current word, no typing required.

Step 1 · Cursor on second 'foo'.

Step 2 · * · * — searched for \<foo\>; jumped to the next.

$* — searched for \<foo\>; jumped to the next.$

* turns the cursor word into a search pattern with word boundaries (\<...\>) so 'foobar' won't match. # is the same backward.